Chaos ensues when social media icon MrBeast arrives on the scene.Robert Voets/CBS
For the 50th season of the long-running reality competition show, TV critics Amber Dowling and J. Kelly Nestruck will convene their own two-person tribal council after each episode to discuss gameplay and drama.
Too long didn’t watch (TLDW) summary:
The twists keep coming on Survivor 50, and thanks to a special guest star, this week’s two-hour episode featured the biggest one yet.
After last week’s farewell to Christian Hubicki, his ally Rick Devens finally came clean about the fake idol they had planted at tribal council. Everyone was impressed except for Joe Hunter, who doubled down on his mission to get Rick out.
The next day host Jeff Probst ran a Survivor auction, in which everyone got 500 bucks to bid on food and comfort items. The catch? Some lots with a side of “chaos.” Aubry Bracco had to eat grubs, Jonathan Young downed a sea slug and there was much vomiting in the bushes.
The biggest combo of comfort with chaos, however, was when the letters from home came with a slice of roasted MrBeast. The Youtuber, a.k.a. Jimmy Donaldson, showed up in the flesh with a briefcase bearing a “super beware advantage,” details to be revealed at tribal.
The auction was followed immediately by an Immunity Challenge, which Tiffany Ervin won. Back at camp the scrambling was real, with Jonathan trying to oust Ozzy, Cirie Fields gunning for Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick, and Rick and Emily Flippen just taking it all in.
At tribal, MrBeast revealed what was in his scary briefcase: A coin to be flipped by one player. If it landed on the side called, the Survivor 50 jackpot would double to US$2-million and the flipper would get immunity that tribal plus an idol. If it landed otherwise, the flipper would be ousted immediately.
Rick giddily volunteered for the Survivor 50/50 gamble – and called the coin toss correctly. This secured him a spot and set off the wildest live tribal to date. In the end, Stephenie was voted out and joined the jury.
Power player of the week:
Amber’s pick: Rick, Rick, Rick. I’m still holding my breath waiting for that coin to stop spinning.
Kelly’s pick: Rick. I love to see a player having so much fun breaking eggs and quoting a little Hamlet along the way. (Steph dideth, indeed, protest too much.)
Whose torch is in danger of being snuffed next:
Amber’s pick: Emily. She’s in with Rick and now that Rick has secured a million more reasons to keep him around for a couple more votes, I feel like the contestants will target her instead.
Kelly’s pick: Ozzy. He’s the one to beat and has been a target for weeks. Time for momma Cirie to stop coddling him and knock him out.
Pictured left to right: Rick Devens, Jonathan Young, Rizo Velovic, Cirie Fields, Tiffany Ervin, Joe Hunter, Aubry Bracco, Emily Flippen, Ozzy Lusth, Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick.Robert Voets/CBS
The episode breakdown
Amber: Survivor is on a tear of good episodes and I’m loving it every single week. I was nervous the MrBeast twist was going to be extremely gimmicky or overly edited, but it was so simple in its premise. It was partly luck (coin toss!), but also let the players decide their fate because Rick took the chance (and everyone let him).
Kelly: After one Jimmy (Fallon) messed up last week’s episode with an ill-devised twist, another Jimmy (Donaldson) made it right with the beast of all possible twists this week.
The last Survivor season with a US$2-million prize was Winners at War, season 40, but this edition is now nearly surpassing that in storytelling and stakes. Aubry made it click for me. “None of us have won our seasons,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of times to think about our mistakes.”
Season 50 has become Runners Up at War – not just about money, but whether players can outlast themselves (what inspired Tiff to win immunity was not getting kicked out on day 19 again) and outplay their past (as Rick and Ozzy are, but Steph couldn’t).
Amber: This was the week where I began to respect Aubry’s game. That confessional showed a side of her I didn’t know I was missing; if you add her “tastes like home” mac-and-cheese moment at the auction, she suddenly became someone to root for. Although I think I’m still hoping it’s Cirie who takes it all in the end. How many times has she saved Ozzy at this point?!
Kelly: Aubry, who described herself as a “psycho” again this ep, was definitely humanized by talking about being a mother and the letters from home. Those letters are so important in these shorter seasons. I had absolutely loved Joe in his first Survivor go-round because of how he cared for Eva Erickson, the show’s first openly autistic player, but had forgotten about his protective, paternal side until he spoke about his kids this week
Amber: I also adored Joe in his first season. However, his blinders for the sneaky aspects of the game bother me. There have been a few times this season where he’s acted better than another player because he plays a different game, and that’s nice in theory but not why people sign up for this thing. I wish he would just own up to the fact that he doesn’t like Rick as a person, rather than accusing him of being deceitful.
If anyone has broken trust this season, it’s Jonathan, several times over. Yet Joe continues to align with him. Add Aubry into that mix and a very sneaky trio may emerge.
Kelly: I saw a lot of possible trios in the mix in that pre-tribal jockeying. This was a two-hour episode that had almost no fat in it, quickly moved from one thing to the next to what Jeff called: “The single most fascinating tribal I’ve ever been a witness to.”
It was interesting to hear MrBeast say how much Survivor and Jeff inspired him. His Prime Video reality competition Beast Games doesn’t work as well because he hasn’t allowed enough space for character and relationships to build in his shift from short-form video.
A MrBeast coin flip was more exciting on Survivor because the of the context around it. He didn’t have to flip out with his bros to sell it as such. What did your Jimmy-loving kids think?
Amber: They weren’t able to stay up for the two-hour instalment but they have been asking about his appearance since the trailer. His popularity is staggering. I was surprised the contestants all recognized him, too. Of course, I loved how the cameras panned to Rizo’s face the most, given that he’s the youngest player. The good news is I’m excited to watch the episode all over again with them and see their reactions to the twists. It really was a fat-free episode, as you say, if you don’t count the calories in all of those auction snacks. With only three episodes left in the season, I don’t think anything coming up could rival this one. It’s going to live rent-free in my Survivor fan brain forever.
Kelly: So will Emily’s quote about the milkshake she bought at the auction: “This is going to cause me to poop my brains out later.” I almost feel the same after ingesting this high-bar episode?
Next episode of Survivor: May 6 on Global and CBS.